Deadly weather tore through a large part of the country, including the mountainous West, the Midwest and the South, spawning at least one tornado Thursday.

Severe thunderstorms pummeled the Denver metro area. Drivers moved slowly through high winds, rain, golf ball-sized hail and even snow.

Across the country, large trees were no match for strong winds.

In Jonesboro, Arkansas, police say a 74-year-old retired police officer died when a tree fell on his house. The situation had his neighbor on edge.

"It's like I'm scared because I live here, and I got a magnolia, a real big magnolia, and I don't want it to go inside my house either," the neighbor said.

In the town of Black Rock, Arkansas, police report a woman died when a tree fell on her car as she was driving during the storm.

Then there was intense flooding in southern Tennessee.

The Highway Patrol reports a 72-year-old man died when his car was swept away downstream as he apparently tried to cross a flooded roadway.

Meanwhile, the search resumes Friday for a 6-year-old boy swept away by flood waters yesterday afternoon. His mother had him in her arms and lost her grip in the force of the flooding.

"The family is just very, very distraught, which is very understandable," Sheriff Randal Ward in Hickman County, Tennessee, said. "I would be the same way if it was my child and I mean, we are a tight community especially down here at Beaver Dam, and we're all just praying that we can really find him."

Further north, the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down outside Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but no injuries were reported.

Mark Martin

CBN News Reporter

Mark Martin is a reporter and anchor at CBN News, covering various issues from military matters to alternative fuels. Mark has reported internationally in the Middle East and traveled to Bahrain to cover stories on the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkMartinCBN and "like" him at Facebook.com/MarkMartinCBN.